The Central Nebraska Goodwill Industries Transition Model is a process initiated during the freshman year of high school. Involvement begins with assessment/evaluation activities culminating in development of a transition planning component to the Individualized Education Plan. The model includes development of a regional transition advisory…

School psychologists must utilize an interdisciplinary approach to understand and analyze language disturbances, by examining the student's motor coordination, sensorium, perception, cognition, emotionality, and sociability. Implications for the practice of school psychology are offered in the areas of dyslalia, dysgrammatia, retardation of…

Presented is a case study of a boy who could not process language auditorily even though he had normal hearing. The boy, who was hyperactive and had a monosyllabic vocabulary at the age of four, received training on speech patterns through sign language and repetition and became a high-achieving student. (JDD)

Reviews approaches for identification and diagnosis of specific learning disabilities and assessment strategies for elucidating functional and vocational deficits associated with specific learning disabilities. Discusses recommendations for provision of comprehensive assessment services. (Author/CM)

Increasing evidence shows that fetal exposure to alcohol, cocaine, phenylcyclidine hydrochloride (PCP), and other drugs results in infants with abnormal neurologic findings. This suggests the need for longitudinal studies to determine whether such findings will translate into a significant number of children with learning and behavioral problems.…

Reports on a study testing the hypothesis that teachers' perceptions of children are strongly influenced by deficit concepts. The study focused on teachers' written observations and spoken comments regarding a group of children with learning difficulties. (NH)

A theoretical matrix for conceptualizing issues within bilingual special education is outlined. Issues addressed include the difficulty of distinguishing learning disabilities from second-language-learning problems, nondiscriminatory assessment of language and intellectual skills, effects of bilingual interactions at home and school, and…

The characteristics of students identified as learning disabled are explored in relation to their social adjustment and acceptance. Two different approaches to remediation are discussed: direct remediation of the social skills and behaviors of the learning-disabled students and changing the attitudes of their nondisabled classmates. (Author/PB)

Whether tasks requiring the use of explicit, rather than implicit, forms of memory are sensitive to developmental and individual differences was studied using 15 non-disabled and 15 disabled third graders and 15 non-disabled and 15 disabled sixth graders. Learning disability status and grade level factors significantly affected memory performance.…

Discussion of regulation of learning, mind orientation, and distraction focuses on two studies of 12- to 14-year-old students with weak concentration abilities from a special education secondary school who were asked to solve arithmetic word problems. These studies explored individual differences in self-regulation processes, and the effect of…

When 99 British 7-year-olds with moderate/severe learning difficulties, physical disabilities, or no disabilities were assessed on Level 1-3 mathematics targets of the National Curriculum, it was found that Level 1 may be too demanding and that targets were not attainable for some children with special educational needs. (JDD)

Thirty-six children, aged four-five, completed four vocabulary measures: Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test-Revised, Picture Vocabulary subtest of the Test of Oral Language Development, Expressive One-Word Picture Vocabulary Test, and Receptive One-Word Picture Vocabulary Test. Only moderate correlations were found among these tests, implying that a…

Three general areas in which technology (microcomputers and video technology) can facilitate learning are discussed: (1) helping students develop fluency (rapid recognition of familiar patterns); (2) providing rich problem-solving contexts that invite thinking; and (3) enabling students to create products that catch the attention of their teachers…

Describes a study examining service delivery practices for students with learning disabilities at both two- and four-year postsecondary institutions. Reveals only minor differences in demographics and service delivery practices despite the differences in mission and types of students found at the different types of postsecondary institutions. The…

Seventy-eight adolescents were administered the Career Decision Diagnostic Assessment instrument. Students with mental retardation or learning disabilities scored more poorly than nondisabled students on decision anxiety, tendency to avoid decision making, authority orientation, and luck and fate orientation. The study concluded that students'…